When on safari in Tanzania, or climbing Kilimanjaro or simply relaxing on the tropical coast or Zanzibar Island what is the local food like? Bellow are a few of the local dishes you may find.

Chips-my-eye [Chips ] is a traditional dish here in Tanzania. It is egg and chips - but not your north of England two fried eggs and a side order of chips - no - it is a chip omelet. Chips are placed into a shallow frying pan and then as they sizzle away two beaten eggs are pored over the top, this is then cooked into a solid omelet stuffed with chips and very nice it is too. It is not so healthy but give it a try when you visit Tanzania it is nicer than it sounds.

Katchubari: a traditional salad sliced tomato and onion [sometimes cabbage or cucumber may be added] with lime juice and a little crushed bell pepper to give it a kick. The bell peppers are called pilipili mbuzi in Swahili, which is a translated goat pepper.

Japati: or elsewhere roti. These are eaten with coffee or tea for breakfast and sometimes they accompany main meals. Tanzanian cooking can unadventurous and not very appealing to a westerner but luckily, over the last few centuries the Indian influence [especially on the Swahili coast] has introduced some wonderful dishes. There is a place on the north coast of Dar es Salaam that makes a wonderful Japati stuffed with fresh tuna and a little green pepper and spiced with local garlic and fresh ginger.

Chai tangaweizi: This is a milky tea spiced with ginger; the milk, ginger and local tea leaves being boiled together in one pan. Give it a try it is very good and is best sweetened. There are many variations of spiced tea, as spices are readily available and not expensive thanks to Zanzibar and Pemba Islands. Black tea is great in the hot afternoons when spiced with local spices or lemon grass.

Samaki wakupaka: One of many dishes using coconut milk. This is fish coated in coconut milk - this is a coastal or Zanzibarian dish. Also Kuku wakupaka which is chicken coated in coconut sauce

Marahagwe: dried beans boiled in a tomato sauce. Tastes very nice when coconut milk is added during cooking. Many dishes add coconut milk or peanut flour to make the food taste richer.

Matoki: or green cooking bananas or plantain. There are many varieties of bananas; in fact north of Arusha town there is a cultural walk, which winds through several banana plantations with over thirty varieties of banana! The Matoki variety comes from Uganda and is often served mashed. It is softer and more yellow than most variants. In my opinion also the best.

Ugali: this has many names throughout Africa and here in East Africa it is Ugali. This is maze flour cooked with water into a stiff porridge - a little thicker than mashed potatoes. This is staple diet for many Tanzanian’s. It is eaten with your right hand and squashed into a ball and then eaten with food [Especially nice with Mchicha - see bellow] with foods cooked in a sauce once you have your ball of Ugali the thumb is pushed into the center of the ball to form a spoon with which you can scoop up your food.

Mchicha: this is a local spinach there are many many verities of spinach available in Tanzania. Some of them require a little longer to cook that the western varieties but they all have an excellent taste from the very bitter to sweet. Mchicha is one of the most popular spinaches and has small oval leaves and thin stems very good with Ugali.

Most hotels are now serving a selection of traditional dishes. However, if you find yourself on the coast or in Zanzibar - speak to the local people and see where they eat. Even in the towns, there are excellent restaurants that serve the local as well as international foods.

For more information on any of these subjects visit http://www.tanzania-info.co.uk and also for tourism and cultural issues see http://www.betheladventure.co.uk - Using tourism to change lives.

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What’s your first impression of this directive? “Tray all drinks when more than two are
ordered.”

Your first impression is probably that you want to be the company selling the trays or,
perhaps, that this practice would cost you a fortune.

Having personally witnessed Pal’s Sudden Service pump cars through the window with an
average at-the-window time of under 20 seconds and do this, it seems a worthwhile
investment. Why? Instead of two trips (or two people) to get the drinks to the customers,
valuable seconds are saved to allow either more people to get through the line or more
time for selling. Either way, sales increase. Plus, it is much easier for the customer to
receive their drinks this way.

My past few experiences last week with other quick-service chains have proven this theory
— it took another 5-15 seconds just to get all the drinks, both when dining in or going
through the drive-thru.

So what other things can you do to save time and move the line quicker?

- Take condiment requests at the order point and have it print on the receipt. This will
increase your order accuracy — as determined by each customer — and make for a
speedier transaction at the pickup point. Again, last week in multiple experiences, I found
there were delays at the pickup point to get these things to me.

- Teach production staff to listen to the order. Instead of waiting for a ticket or the order
to appear on a monitor, they become more productive.

- Have everything in arm’s reach so production staff and cashiers don’t have to move too
far. This includes selling props or P.O.P. materials to help cashiers sell more effectively.

While these actions might seem to cost money, the minimal investment is cheaper than
advertising and an inexpensive way to continue to enhance service. Can you afford not to
do these things? Sure, if you want your customers to shop at your competition!

T.J. Schier is service professional, consultant and speaker with over 20 years experience in operations and training. Founder and president of Incentivize Solutions and podTraining, T.J. has helped numerous clients enhance their service and training programs and spoken to tens of thousands of managers, franchisees and operators in various fields. Visit http://IncentivizeSolutions.com/ for more info motivating today’s employees, training today’s generation and delivering outstanding guest service; or http://podTraining.us/, a unique new system and the foundation of ‘i-learning’ - using the device of today’s generation, the iPod - to train your workforce.

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Gift certificates can be a perfect present to give to a loved one. A gift certificate from their favorite store will guarantee that they will be happy with their present, and it will not be something that will sit that the back of their closet without being used.

In many cases, a person will give a gift to a family member or friend without realizing that the person does not need or want that particular item. It would either be returned to the store, or kept in storage never to be seen again. With gift certificates, you know that the recipient will use it to buy what they want, guaranteeing that it will be used and appreciated.

There are plenty of different types of gift certificates. Most major retailers offer gift certificates to their customers. Some examples of the types of stores that offer gift certificates to customers include restaurants, clothing stores, and electronics stores. These are only a few examples. Today just about every store will offer gift certificates to their customers.

Most retail companies prefer selling gift certificates to their customers. This is because when people redeem their certificates, they usually spend more than the face value of the gift certificate. For example, a person receives a $20 gift certificate from a store. They are obligated to shop at that store to redeem it. While shopping they find other items they would like to purchase. At the end they would end up spending more than $30 during that visit.

Another reason most individuals prefer giving gift certificates is the convenience factor. Sometimes most people do not want to go into stores and look for particular items. Finding the time in your busy schedule to shop for presents is a hard thing for some people. It would be much easier for them to go in and buy a gift certificate than spend time picking out gifts.

Gift Certificates provides detailed information on Gift Certificates, Restaurant Gift Certificates, Online Gift Certificates, Printable Gift Certificates and more. Gift Certificates is affiliated with Online Gift Cards.

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